


quiet

by acidtowns



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 13:47:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15341157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidtowns/pseuds/acidtowns
Summary: Written for ereriweek: Pining (about three years ago haha)





	quiet

Eren fell in love with Levi at first sight. It was a chanced meeting – one that wouldn’t have happened if Eren hadn’t accepted the teaching job at Trost High. Now, for a man of twenty-seven, “love at first sight” was nothing more than his libido screaming for attention. For two or so weeks, he was satisfied with late nights with his hand and the peaceful slumber that drifted afterwards. Two or so weeks later, that satisfaction manifested into dreamscapes of _them_ together.

In these dreams, Levi had his usual quirks. Holding his cup by the rim. Cleaning every inch of the lunch table after all the teachers had finished eating. Eren even dreamt of the way Levi spoke, the way his words rolled off his tongue with a subtle  _che_. All these quirks characterized Levi’s charming self, and Eren fell hard.

They started dating near the end of the school year. It was thanks to Eren’s persistence that Levi finally gave in and agreed to one dinner outing. They spent the summer together, mostly in each other’s beds, but usually in each other’s company. Each passing day was a thought carved into Eren’s memory, but as school started again, he began to realize that these memories missed their halves.

It didn’t really bother him at first. He thought it was just Levi’s personality to give the cold shoulder, to play down their affections. For so long, Eren convinced himself that it was all right, that he could look past this – but he couldn’t. It became a problem, and once he recognized it as such, his perception of their relationship started to shift.

Levi didn’t love him, he never had. He probably agreed to date because it gave him something to do and provided him with company. He had never uttered those stray three words, despite the many, many times Eren had uttered them first.

This dragged on for another year, and by late September, Eren found himself reacting in the most unconventional way. Every quirk he thought was cute was now irritating. He hated how people stared when Levi held his cup by its rim. Why couldn’t he hold it normally? Was it that hard? – He also hated how he would spend so much time cleaning. Who cared if there were a few stray crumbs? And who dusted the windows every weekend anyway? Dust didn’t gather that fast!

And the way Levi said his name. Over and over. Rolling the  _r_ , drawling the  _en_. It was not cute. It was infuriating. Every time Levi said his name, Eren’s heart would skip a beat and he would hate himself for feeling this way, because he knew –  _he knew_  – that these feelings would never be reciprocated.

So Eren broke things off. He told Levi, maybe yelled a little (he couldn’t remember, it all happened so quick), and he left. But when he left, he failed to see Levi’s expression changing for the first time. Brow furrowed, lips contorted. A previously clean face now barely held onto the edge of crumbling. And when Levi opened his mouth to say Eren’s name once more, it came as a mere whisper. Quietly, quietly – almost as quietly as Levi fell for him.

Levi didn’t like him at first. He only agreed to date because Eren had a nice face. But as time dragged on, Levi found that he had fallen for the many times Eren had cracked his knuckles before grabbing his hand. The many times Eren had smiled once, then twice – the second time wider. The many times he had eaten with his left hand, then wrote with his right. The times he had stumbled over his words. And the times he had murmured Levi’s name in his sleep.

The fall was quiet, happening around four months ago. By then, Eren was already feeling the relationship’s detachment, so there was nothing Levi could do but let it drag on to its known end.


End file.
